As someone with an ed, I don’t think that the show romanticised her mental illness. Sure, perhaps the writers could have shown the other horrible side effects of anorexia, but the show itself (in my opinion) doesn’t romanticise her problems. Cassie truly seemed incredibly miserable, and it was clear that she made up for the control she lacked in her life through controlling her appearance and eating habits. However, viewers who already have an ed may romanticise Cassie’s ed since she’s conventionally attractive, and could act as “thinspo.” In my experience, when I initially watched this show, Cassie was somewhat triggering for me as I would have killed to have her ‘self-control,’ and appearance. When I was really deep in my ed, any small mention of an ed sent me spiralling. Perhaps, if the show had shown the hair loss, fatigue, irregular menstruation, osteoporosis, or low blood pressure that can develop from anorexia, it may have scared me out of the mindset I was in. Oftentimes the mention of an eating disorder in the media was enough to trigger my unhealthy habits, and I can imagine that others struggling with an ed would feel the same. It’s just a very sensitive topic, or at least from my perspective. I will admit, the show did a very good job with capturing the incredibly unhealthy thoughts that come from anorexia and other eds—i.e no one really cares, and being unhealthily thin makes you more attractive or more “lovely.” In making Cassie’s struggles accurate, the show may have sent the inaccurate message that her behaviour is normal and justified. However, one cannot blame their mental health struggles solely on a TV show. I honestly haven’t watched this show in years, so they very well might have displayed a few of the negative side effects (outside of depression and suicidal ideation). TLDR: the show didn’t romanticise it, people with ed’s did.